Embedding Fonts in Documents

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If you create documents that will be read on other computers, you'd be wise to stick with fonts that all your readers are likely to have. The safest ones to use are Arial, Courier New, and Times New Roman—respectively, the sans serif, monospace, and serif faces shipped with all versions of Windows since 1992.

What happens if a reader's system doesn't have one of the fonts used by your document? For example, suppose you've formatted your entire report in Bozo Bold, but you're the only one in your company who's installed the Bozo family. In that case, Windows substitutes a closely related font on your reader's system. For example, assuming Bozo is a serif face, your reader will probably see Times New Roman on his or her computer. (You can get an idea of what fonts Windows considers "similar" by opening your Fonts folder and using the View menu's List Fonts By Similarity command.)

If it's crucial that all readers see your document in the exact fonts you've used, check to see whether the program you used to create the document supports font embedding. If the program can embed the OpenType fonts and TrueType fonts that your document uses, your document will include a copy of the font file for each font you use. Your readers will then see your document with its original fonts. And, unless the document has read-only status, they'll be able to edit with those fonts as well.

Note that embedding fonts adds greatly to the size of your document. A 5-KB report, for example, might easily grow to 50 KB with only one font embedded. If you use italic and bold, along with regular roman, your document could swell another 100 KB or so. Although most fonts can be embedded, font manufacturers can disable that capability. Therefore, even if your program can embed fonts, always check to make sure the fonts you want to use are also embeddable before you do any work that depends on this capability. (You can tell if your font is being embedded by comparing the size of the same document saved with and without embedding.)

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Embedding Fonts in Microsoft Word Documents

If you're using Microsoft Word 6 or later, you can turn on embedding by choosing Options from the Tools menu, clicking the Save tab, and selecting the Embed TrueType Fonts check box. Note that this setting is file-specific—that is, changing it for one document doesn't affect other documents.